Endangered Species
by McMoni
Summary: Investigating and apprehending the suspects is their job, but things don't always run smoothly... a short, humorous one shot.


**AN: This little one shot is dedicated to all the ladies in the Yahoo SOSF Group, for their support and encouragement and friendship.**  
**A special thanks goes to Tanith2011 who kindly beta'ed this for me, and made it better with her wonderful suggestions (title included!).**  
**Of course, any remaining mistakes are mine and only mine!**

**Hope you enjoy it ;)**

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own "The Streets of San Francisco", the characters, the locations or anything else related to the show. I'm just borrowing Steve, Mike and Jeannie for a little fun; but I promise I'll return them intact when I'm done playing._

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**Endangered Species**_  
_

"This is your fault," Steve accused, sullenly emphasizing each word and jabbing his right finger into his partner's shoulder. _He's definitely pouting, thought Mike,_ but the first thing that stood out in the Inspector's appearance was the spectacular, colorful bruise covering his left cheekbone. Mike experienced a mixture of emotions: a little guilty for the ordeal, quite amused under the circumstances and, well, in the end a bit annoyed by his friend's complaints.

"Just look at me! I look like a…like a…"

"A panda. Last time you told me, you looked like a panda," Mike patiently answered, although his patience was rapidly fading away. "And only three minutes has lapsed since you last mentioned it."

"Right! A panda! Just look at my eye!" Steve was not amused. He probed the offended area for the umpteenth time, and just like clockwork winced at the touch. Catching a glimpse in the side mirror of the car, he grimaced, "And it hurts, too, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know. And I'm sorry, okay?" Mike tried to soothe his friend. "But, come on, I'm buying you dinner tonight. I'll even let you choose the restaurant. We'll call it even, huh?" he added with a grin.

"You're sorry! Ha! Sure you are! It's all your fault if I look like an endangered specimen," Steve muttered.

"Is it?" Mike asked distractedly, looking at his watch. They had managed to get an early leave from work and were now parked outside Mike's home, waiting for Jeannie so she could join them for dinner. She had assured them that she 'just needed a couple of minutes to get ready', but the announcement had been delivered more than twenty minutes ago, and she still was nowhere to be seen.

"What?" Steve was taken aback by the question.

"The panda. Is it an endangered species?" Mike asked, more to distract his partner from the blackened-eye subject than to any real zoological interest.

Luckily the sudden arrival of Jeannie spared Mike any revelations about the fate of pandas, and he smiled proudly as he observed her approaching the car. _Such a beautiful young woman, smart and sweet. _He was so proud to be her father.  
And, if he hadn't been so caught up in admiring his daughter, he wouldn't have failed to notice the more than appreciative way his partner stared at Jeannie.

"Mike, Steve, I'm sorry I kept you waiting," she began, opening the rear door and graciously climbing in. Her smile suddenly morphed into a surprised grimace as soon as she noticed Steve's reflection in the rearview mirror. "Oh my God, Steve, what happened?" she asked worriedly.

Mike tried to hide a mischievous smile. After all, with all the whining he had had to endure during the past couple of hours, he deserved a little fun.  
"He had an altercation with a suspect," he explained, trying to keep a straight face, and ignoring the dark look Steve threw in his direction.

"A suspect?" Jeannie asked, apparently unaware of the younger detective's embarrassment. "He punched you?"

Mike turned towards the rear seat, his grin now definitely clear. "That would be a _she, _wouldn't it, Buddy Boy?" he added, and, again, tried to ignore his partner's sour stare. If looks could do bodily harm, he would have probably been ready for a trip to the ER, Mike mused.

Jeannie, instead, was still confused, as she glanced between the partners. "A _she_? You were hit by a…female suspect?" she wondered, and tried to stifle a surprised laugh as a spark of understanding dawned on her.

"Yeah. A woman," Mike confirmed.

"A wrestler," Steve specified, stopping the car at a red light with a little more vehemence than probably necessary. "A woman wrestler. A big, bad, solidly built woman wrestler." He turned towards Jeannie waving a hand in the Lieutenant's general direction. "And anyway it was Mike's fault. His plan to bring her in quietly just sucked."

Well, maybe it hadn't been such a great plan, Mike admitted to himself. They were investigating a couple of murders – both men, found strangled in their homes. It should have been a simple, quick case. After all, the link between the killings was quite clear. The victims had both been ex-boyfriends of the suspect and she had been recently seen hovering around their houses at least a couple of times during the week before the murders. What hadn't been that simple was the actual arrest of the woman. Since Mike had expected resistance, he had told Steve to position himself outside her back door, to prevent any eventual escape attempt, as he and Lessing had taken up positions at the front door.

And Mike had been right! The woman flew out the back door and tried to make a run for it. Too bad that she had assaulted Steve as soon as he had tried to stop her.

"You shoulda told me!" Steve protested once again, taking a sharp turn on the left.

"Told you what, that she was a wrestler? You already knew that!" Mike retorted, surreptitiously grabbing the arm rest to brace himself. Steve's driving definitely took a turn to the worst when he was upset.

"She wasn't just a wrestler! She was a monster! You knew that. You shoulda warned me," the Inspector repeated, disdain written over his features, as he finally slowed the car down and started looking for a parking space.

"Oh, come on Buddy Boy, the drug dealer you tackled a couple of weeks ago was twice her size, yet you had no problem taking him down!"

"Yeah, exactly. _Him_. It was a _guy!_" Steve retorted, but a telltale shade of red was making its way up his neck and on his face.

"Ha! She scared you, admit it!"

"Oh come on, Mike, stop teasing him," Jeannie chimed in, determined to defend Steve, and managing to throw a scolding glance to her father while smiling at a definitely embarrassed Inspector. "I think it's quite sweet, actually," she went on, addressing the younger man. "You didn't want to hit her because she's a woman. That's a nice thing."

Steve gratefully smiled, ignoring Mike's teasing snort. Having finally parked the car, he stopped the engine and got out. "You heard her, Mike. I'm nice."

He reached for the backseat door and held it open for Jeannie, as she gracefully got out, and offered her his arm.

"Actually, she said that you did a nice thing, not that you _are_ nice," Mike objected. "You were too scared to stop that woman! And, anyway, what happened to the equality of the sexes?" he added, looking at his daughter.

"Well, he _is_ a nice person Mike, but _you_ aren't, right now," Jeannie scolded him, refusing to take the bait. "And the bruise actually makes you look tough," she added with a wink, addressing the young man and accepting his proffered arm.

"Hey, I always look tough!" Steve exclaimed pretending that his pride was wounded.

"Oh yeah, a really tough _panda bear_," Mike muttered under his breath, but the couple simply ignored him.

"Okay. _Tougher_, then," Jeannie amended, smiling at Steve. "Sounds better?"

"Yeah. Definitely," Steve agreed. He grinned as they reached the door of the restaurant- one of the most expensive places to dine in in the city. Mike groaned, finally noticing his partner's choice for their dinner. He noticed the plaque at the front entrance with the name of the restaurant gracefully imprinted against a polished background. And all of a sudden he regretted offering to buy.  
"Let's go inside, Mike," Steve turned towards his partner, probably noticing his reluctance, and grinned. "After all, he's a little nice, too," he added, nudging the young woman leaning on his arm. "He's offered to buy all of us dinner!"

**The End**

**I hope you liked it!  
Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome. :-)**


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